The General (1926)

There's a moment in The General where Buster Keaton, perched on the front of a moving locomotive, is so completely absorbed in the problem in front of him that he barely registers the danger he's in. That deadpan focus, that total calm in the middle of chaos, is the whole film in miniature. And watching it nearly a hundred years on, I still can't quite believe what I'm seeing.

This is Keaton at the peak of his powers. The story is deceptively stripped back: a Southern railroad engineer chases Union spies who've stolen his beloved locomotive during the American Civil War. That's essentially it. But what Keaton builds within that framework is extraordinary. Visual gag after visual gag, each one topping the last, all of it staged with a precision that makes modern action filmmaking look positively lazy by comparison. He's leaping between moving trains, balancing on locomotive rods, orchestrating massive set pieces with real steam engines, all live, all without a safety net in sight. The fearlessness is jaw-dropping. And the timing, that architectural, almost mathematical sense of when to land the punchline, is something I don't think anyone has ever quite matched. I've said similar things about Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928) and Sherlock Jr. (1924), but The General operates on a grander scale than either. The ambition here is staggering.

I'll be honest about how I came to it this time, though. I watched a colorised version, enhanced with subtle sound design: clanging metal, hissing steam, the low rumble of tracks. I know that raises eyebrows in certain circles, and I get it. There's a purist argument to be made. But I'd push back on it. What the colourisation and sound design actually do is restore a sense of immediacy that silent black-and-white projection, particularly on a laptop or a small screen, can inadvertently strip away. It doesn't modernise the film so much as reactivate it. The chase sequences stop being clever and become genuinely thrilling. That sensory texture, the sense that these machines are enormous and hot and loud and dangerous, was almost certainly present for audiences in 1926. We've just lost access to it over the decades, and this version quietly gives it back.

That said, I want to be clear: the film earns its place without any of those enhancements. The stunt work alone would be enough. But there's also a warmth running beneath the spectacle, a quiet heroism in Keaton's engineer that keeps the film grounded even as the set pieces escalate to something approaching the genuinely epic. One late sequence involving a bridge still ranks among the most audacious things ever committed to film, and I'll leave it at that for anyone coming to this fresh.

My one honest caveat is that silent-era rhythms can feel unfamiliar to modern eyes. The acting register is theatrical, the pacing has a different grammar to what we're used to. I felt it occasionally, a slight distance, a moment where I was watching rather than living inside it. That's partly why the three and a half stars rather than the full five. It's not a flaw in the film exactly, more a function of a century's worth of accumulated viewing habits sitting between me and it. With the right presentation and the right frame of mind, that gap closes considerably.

What Keaton did across his great run of films in the twenties was treat danger like choreography and machinery like a collaborator. If you've enjoyed what I've written about Our Hospitality or The Navigator, then The General belongs right alongside them on your list, arguably at the top of it. It's not just historically important in that respectful, glass-case kind of way. It's viscerally entertaining. A hundred years old and still moving at full speed.

Three and a half stars.

Rating: ★★★½  | Year: 1926  | Watched: 2026-05-08

View on Letterboxd →

Where to watch

Watch in the UK
Stream: Amazon Prime Video · MUBI · MUBI Amazon Channel · Amazon Prime Video with Ads
Rent: Apple TV Store · Amazon Video · YouTube
Buy: Apple TV Store · Amazon Video · YouTube
Physical: Amazon UK · Zavvi

Watch in the US
Stream: Amazon Prime Video · fuboTV · MGM+ Amazon Channel · Philo
Rent: Amazon Video · Apple TV Store · Google Play Movies · YouTube
Buy: Amazon Video · Apple TV Store · Google Play Movies · YouTube
Physical: Amazon US

Affiliate disclosure: Movies With Macca may earn a small commission on purchases or subscriptions started via these links. It costs you nothing extra.

Related on Movies With Macca

More from Buster Keaton: Our Hospitality (1923) · The Navigator (1924) · Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928) · Sherlock Jr. (1924)
More with Buster Keaton: Our Hospitality (1923) · The Navigator (1924) · Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928) · Sherlock Jr. (1924)
More from the 1920s: The Eagle (1925) · The Docks of New York (1928) · A Throw of Dice (1929) · Safety Last! (1923)
More action: A Better Tomorrow (1986) · Hand of Death (1976) · Daredevil (2003) · Hulk Hogan: Real American (2026)
More adventure: Alice in Wonderland (1951) · The Eagle (1925) · Louisiana Story (1948) · Kirikou and the Wild Beasts (2005)